If you've read my other posts, you know I love a good bike challenge. This one was two years in the making!

When I moved to the Bay Area, Lake Tahoe was the getaway destination for many people around me: During the winter, rain in the Bay signified perfect conditions for skiing, and in the summer months Lake Tahoe would resurface in conversations as a perfect place to take a break and relax.

By this time, I'd heard a lot about the natural beauty of Lake Tahoe and during these conversations I'd let my mind wander... could I achieve this experience without a car?

It was in these daydreaming moments that a grand challenge was made to myself: Could I travel to, and then circumnavigate Lake Tahoe using just my Brompton?

Lake Tahoe's shoreline is a total of 72 miles, mostly highway and not flat. I would not ride on any street with high speeds and unprotected paths which eliminated riding on any state highway. That made it clear that I would not be able to circumnavigate Lake Tahoe. I used Bike Tahoe's maps as well as hours of sifting through Google Maps and Street View to narrow down the separated and paved trails along the lake.

The plan then became apparent: I would travel to Lake Tahoe, and keep a home base in the beautiful Tahoe City where many of the trails intersect. To travel between trails I would use the Tahoe bus system, known as TART. After putting it off for a year due to my injury (Bybrompton When injured… | Offprint) the time had come to execute on the plan.

I recruited my friend and fellow Bromptoneer Karvin from Redwood City Bike Walk Bus Alliance. Now with a partner-in-folding secured, the plans all spec'd out, there was only one thing left to do: ride!

How to get to Lake Tahoe without a Car

Karvin and I set off early on a Friday, riding along the waterfront to catch BART to Richmond. From there we caught the once-a-day Amtrak California Zephyr train to Truckee.

One of my favourite things about train travel is that you are in a shared space for many hours and in these conditions strangers interact with each other differently. A nod here, a smile there and you're quickly striking up conversations with two elderly women going to a girls trip reunion, a newlywed couple on their honeymoon or someone who worked on Canada's remote weather stations in the 1970s (real story from a different train and saved for a different blog post). While a road trip can help you get to know your own friends better, a train trip can help you make some new friends.

During the train ride, we made our way up the mountains and via Donner Pass. It started to rain quite heavily and I am embarrassed to say that I did NOT plan for rain (in my defense the weather was supposed to be clear!). Luckily, as the train started to descend into Truckee, the serene mountain rains faded away and the weather cleared up. Phew...

Until the 1930s, a train that travelled between Truckee and Tahoe City brought tourists directly to the Lake Shore. Alas in 2026, no such option exists: The Zephyr would drop us in Truckee and we needed to find our way to our hotel in Tahoe City.

Now... where there used to be rail, there is usually a trail. And I'm happy to report, that.... there kinda is!

The Historic Truckee River Trail follows the old train route from Olympic Valley to Tahoe City, however, it does not connect to Truckee where we got off our train. Here comes our first TART ride! From the Truckee station, we caught the TART Hwy 89 bus that took us to the trailhead for the Truckee River Trail.

After a 10 minute bus ride, we were at the trail head. And within no time we were riding along the Truckee river on a beautiful shaded path. After being on a train for about 6 hours, it was awesome to be moving again, breathing in the fresh air and hearing the birds and rushing water.

The path was smooth and after about 30ish minutes of riding, we got into Tahoe City and we checked into our hotel.

Tahoe City, a walkable village.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Tahoe City was super walkable and had some of the best urbanism I've seen in California.

The main Transit Center was a short walk from our hotel (even shorter by bike). The Commons Beach was right in front of the hotel and provided lakefront access. Along the lakefront was a fantastic multi-use path. It was a pleasant stroll to an amazing pizza and ice cream joint nearby (shout out to Mountain Slice Tahoe).

In addition to these off-street paths, Caltrans had recently re-done the state highway through here with nice bike lanes and lots of pedestrian crossings which further calms the road and really makes the area nice to be in.

I initially picked Tahoe City as my base purely because of its utilitarian location: transit center, confluence of trail heads and a modern hotel. But the urbanism of Tahoe city made it an even more memorable and if I went back I would happily come back here.

After a surprisingly satisfying start to the trip and no hiccups so far, we headed to bed to rest up for our next day.

East Shore Trail

On Day 2, Karvin and I took the TART ML bus to Incline Village where we caffeinated, got some snacks and burritos for the road. Our goal was to ride the East Shore Trail all the way to Sand Harbor Beach, one of the most popular beaches on Lake Tahoe.

My everyday Brompton is a 2-speed C-Line but for this trip I took my partner's 6-speed C-Line. And I was glad for swapping my bike for one with gears because the East Shore Trail starts off with a steep incline. I really needed those lower gears.

Once we reached the top of the trail, we caught our breath by admiring the viewpoint above the lake.

The trail then continues hugging the cliff wall, and providing some stunning vistas while it twists and turns. This trail was busy with many different kinds of people riding different kinds of bikes: long-tail cargo bikes with families, kids on Woom bikes, couples and seniors on e-bikes, and even a few road cyclists.

Once we made it to Sand Harbor Beach, we were a little vindicated: car parking was already full. Being Memorial Day weekend this is exactly the traffic and parking nightmares that my colleagues had warned me of!

It was a $2 per bike entry fee for what looked like a crowded beach so we instead decided to turn around and find a quieter and shaded place to sit by the lake and eat our burritos.

On our way back we got distracted by a sign for "Emerald Cove". We parked our bikes and went down to the lake for a hike to check it out. The Instragramable viewpoint had a line of people patiently waiting to get their glamor shot so we decided to continue further along the trail. During this adventure, I think we got lost because we eventually reached a shrubby and steep area where the trail abruptly ended. We were scrambling around and had to backtrack quite a bit to get out 😬.

It was fun to get lost for a bit.

We rode our bikes back to the stop and caught the TART back to our hotel with plenty of time for some chilling at the beach. For the rest of the evening we ended up kayaking and relaxing on the beach.

West Lake Tahoe Bike Path

On Day 3, Karvin and I rode the West Lake Tahoe Bike Path that started right in Tahoe City very close to our Hotel. This was a long and satisfying ride that took us south from Tahoe City to Sugar Pine Beach. The separated route follows the highway south and alternates between being on the lakeshore and inland.

While riding along the lake is picturesque, riding along the inland sections had its own charm. The trail led us through wooded forests and we got to hear tons of birds. Despite the path being long, it had gentle inclines everywhere so we didn't really have to exert ourselves. There are several grocery stores and restaurants that you can stop at on your way to Sugar Pine Beach which makes this perfect to do in a relaxed pace over a morning.

The West Shore trail had a more local feel compared to the more touristy East Shore trail we rode yesterday: There were fewer long-tail cargo bikes and more families riding together on their individual bikes. It was equally awesome to see kids and teens riding unsupervised on it on regular ol' bikes (not e-motos)! This is a sign that the trail serves as a safe and vital connector for locals.

And it shows that the community has recognized that the trail is a vital piece of infrastructure. When we rode the West shore, sections of the trails were being upgraded. Several crosswalks had just been installed with high visibility blinking lights which made crossing the highway from the lake sections to the inland sections vastly safer. Some sections of the trail even integrated directly into new housing which is an awesome amenity to have to give people a car free option to get around Tahoe.

Once we reached Sugar Pine beach we got to experience a majestic boardwalk. It wasn't very crowded so it was easy to ride the Brompton over the boardwalk and right up to the lake. It was a perfect opportunity to just sit and take in the snow capped peaks and clear blue lake.

To our surprise, we found that the trail actually kept going! The trail continued further south to Meeks Bay that I hadn't accounted for in my research.

We decided to keep going until the trail ends. Here, I rode probably one of the longest switchbacks in my life. This switchback made me appreciate the harmony of having gears on my bike and the well designed grade. The switchback allowed us to descend smoothly into Meeks Bay and return without needing to walk our bikes.

Once we made it back to the bus stop at Sugar Pine Beach, the bus pulled in right on time and whisked us back to our hotel once again with plenty of time to relax by the water and get a meal.

Car-free getaways should be more normal

On our final day, Karvin and I rode our bikes early to the Tahoe City Transit center to catch our bus back to the Amtrak station in Truckee. The rest of our journey back was smooth and the train ride gave me some time to reflect on the journey.

Tahoe is a geographically constrained place, there is no room for more cars or car infrastructure (car lanes, parking lots etc) without sacrificing the essence that makes Tahoe worth visiting, its natural beauty. The early hotels of lake Tahoe were built around bringing vacationers into Lake Tahoe the 1900s without a car. Karvin and I had essentially retraced that journey, 100 years later.

One could only imagine how appealing rail options could be for Bay Area folk if the rail and spur lines were maintained and modernized over time. Other countries like Switzerland and Italy do this already, shuffling visitors between city and lake. Mountains are no excuse for them and should be no excuse for us either.

Our journey to Tahoe showed that the bones for a car-free, almost European lake town experience are already there. And Tahoe residents already know it! Years of advocacy to "Keep Tahoe Blue" has created a recognition that sustainable recreation around the Lake requires improving transportation options for people.

However, if we want fewer people to drive to Lake Tahoe, especially on those busy weekends, people need comfortable alternative ways to get to Tahoe which frankly do not exist today.

Getting people into Tahoe is one aspect, but moving people around Lake Tahoe is another challenge. The TART only barely manages to achieve this. It has a once-an-hour schedule and I am not sure how it can perform well in heavy traffic without significant timetable padding. The TART is free but we know that free doesn't compensate for being infrequent and subject to traffic conditions.

The high quality West Shore bike path is a good alternative way to travel along the lakeshore and benefits both locals and tourists and should be developed even more to circumnavigate the whole lake.

Travelling by bike doesn't have to be extreme. Lightpacking, or staying at a hotel instead of camping, is a good way to make travelling by bike more accessible. You could even take it a step further and offer luggage transportation like in Lake Saint-Jean. More transportation options and bike paths in Lake Tahoe can be stitched together to make these adventures safer and more fun.

As our train pulled into Richmond, I truly felt happy. We had done it! I had finally travelled to-and-from, and cycled in Lake Tahoe completely car-free.